Madness
by TheValueSystem
Summary: Now that Justin has fallen under the influence of Caige's insanity what will Caige's next goal be? Includes main cast as well as a couple OCs. OC/OC  Soul/Maka  - eventually
1. Chapter 1: The Rebirth of Madness

**_MADNESS_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Atsushi Ōkubo's manga or any themes or characters represented in the manga.**

**Intro:** Count Dracula, one of the most notorious names in history. The Count studied the dark arts in the Academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu. Using this magic he disguised his true self from the eyes of others, and after obtaining the ranking of Voivode he promptly led an army against the Turks. After much mayhem his identity was discovered by lord Death, who in turn sent the meister Van Helsing to take his soul. However, the vampire was tricky, and after his defeat sealed his soul away with dark magic. Van Helsing and his weapon partner, the infamous wooden stake crossbow, were never found in Bran Castle. Death saw past Dracula's trick though and posted his experimental academy right in Scholomance to guard against the return of Dracula.

Takes place during the original Soul Eater story, though flashbacks will take place about two years before hand.

_**Chapter 1: Caige and Lilith– The Rebirth of Madness**_

The room was dull; the walls were blank and devoid of anything interesting except for the few cracks in the foundation. In fact, they were made of simple concrete. A single lamp stood in the center of the room, its shine pierced the darkness like a beacon being sent up to the heavens above; only to be stopped abruptly be the Plane Jane ceiling that sat low and gave the room a claustrophobic feel. By the lamp stood a single chair that had seen better days; it creaked and moaned at every little move made by its captive, a young man with black eyes that faded in quite nicely with the setting, he had a solemn look on his face. He was neither angry nor scared, he just waited. He wore black slacks with a few scuffs on them and a grayish loose fitting vest that he slipped on really quickly so he didn't have to go out in his ACDC shirt he wore just before being dragged out of his apartment by authorities. Caige Carmichael scowled as he heard the gears and gizmos of the steel door begin to crank and churn.

The steel door slowly creaked open. A familiar face walked through… but the look he gave out said this was more than a casual talk. His jaw was tight and creased into a grimace, his brow was raised upward. Everything about his face said that he hated this part of his job and the fact that he knew the captive on a personal level only made things more difficult. The tall, blonde haired man wore his infamous reverend clothing and skull earphones that blared music. The steel door shut behind him. The man known as Justin Law walked closer and stood near the lamp. Justin was one of the few Deathscythes in the world and had been put in charge of Scholomance, a site that Caige had been assigned just two years earlier. From this distance the music from his earphones was easy to make out_. It was one thing to listen to music all the time, but did it really have to be that loud?_Justin grabbed at the lamp and focused it on the mouth of his captive, no doubt so that he could read his lips.

"YOU KNOW WHAT THE SITUATION IS!" Justin yelled, probably not because he was angry but because the music in his ears made it hard to tell what volume level he spoke at.

"Speak softer, I can hear you fine Justin" said Caige while making gestures towards his ears to prove the point. "And yes, I have a feeling I know what this is about."

"Will you cooperate?" Justin added, almost like he had paid no attention to what the captive had said.

"Yes"

A faint smile was now shining through on Justin's face. "Thank you, you will make this a glorious day for our Lord Death! So where is she and what did she do with that soul?"

"Well if I knew those details then this would be a lot easier." Said the captive hoping to avoid another of Justin's crazy ramblings about his savior Lord Death.

"Then as standard procedure you need to tell me all you know… Start with your name and a few details about our suspect. Then tell me when you believe things got out of hand."

"Some simply call me the "killer" but I reject the name. My real name is Caige Carmichael and I am a twenty-one year old meister; it goes without saying that I haven't been at it for too long. My weapon partner's name is Lilith, but besides that I haven't found out too much about her. It's a shame really, she is kind of cute." Caige coughed awkwardly hoping that Justin would overlook how blunt he was being. "I digress; I'm not actually sure how things went downhill. I'm guessing you will want to hear about _that_ night?"

Justin nodded, he was getting impatient, a mood that Caige had not seen too many times. Justin was a working man but never had he seemed so ready to get things over with. Justin and Caige had become close over the past two years. Caige was granted the second command job in Scholomance where he worked directly underneath Justin. Sure he wasn't the man you would take to Chupa-Cabra's for a friendly drink but he wasn't always this high strung either.

Justin shifted his weight from his left foot to his right and cleared his throat. After he didn't talk for a while Caige glanced upwards. Justin was bothered by something. His mouth had turned into a line of sorrow and his blue eyes glimmered as he stared dumbfounded at the wall. Caige looked closer and realized the Justin's eyes portrayed fear… fear of this room and better yet a fear of Caige himself.

Caige sat up in his chair. _What the hell is going on here? _He toke a deep breath and interrupted Justin's trance with a cough. Only to realize the Justin didn't hear him because of his earphones. Caige felt his eye twitch in annoyance, so he waved both arms around furiously and began to snap his fingers. Justin shook off the sadness and stared at Caige; ready to hear, or watch, his story.

"It was the night we invaded Bran Castle, Dracula's sanctum." Caige started. "Lilith and I were making our way through the forest leading up to the castle when all hell broke loose. Traps were set all throughout the forest; trip wires that set bombs off and disrupted grave sites, where nasty bits of Dracula's soul were buried. His soul seeped upwards and toke shadows to use as a vessel. A type of enemy we soon gave the name Shade. The Shades attacked all our forces but no one knew how to attack back. At least one hundred were lost that night…

* * *

><p>Caige and Lilith ran through the forest, the castle was in view now. Screams came from the near right of them, after a few steps explosions tripped around 10 feet in front of them. They kept running, leery to stop while they heard so much mayhem in the area. Caige's stomach churned and cramped with sorrow as he listened to his friends and students meet their demise. He needed to stop but knew he couldn't, He felt the acidic bile climb up his throat and burn his esophagus. <em>What was killing them though? Only half the cries came after he heard an explosion. Were there enemy troops that had met the invasion? No… who would be stupid enough to attack Lord Death's army?<em>They came into the deepest part of the woods where the tree tops kamikazed their way in front of the moonlight and bestowed pure darkness onto the path in front of them; Bren Castle was just around the corner and as far as Caige could tell they had gotten lucky. They stopped to survey the area; it was too dark to see any kind of trip wires.

"Dammit" Caige said, "We had no idea what we were getting into. Isn't this guy supposed to be dead?" Lilith stared directly at him with an expression devoid of any emotion, her glistening red eyes shining brightly in the night, but did not say a word. The ground in front of them swirled with darkness and suddenly figures toke shape and walked from the shadows. Caige gasped and cleared his throat, "black magic?"

"Shades", Lilith said bluntly as she shifted into the Shadow Kris that had molded her and Caige's bond. Caige caught the dagger carefully and whipped it around with such speed that the sharp edge could be heard cutting through the very air itself; he held it backwards in his hand and behind his back as he leaped into the air gracefully and landed right next to the first Shade, he motioned through his movements carefully and with such precision that the three stabs he had made went unnoticed. Caige back flipped to a safe distance and struck his "cool" pose as he waited for the Shade to die. But the Shade instead started to move slowly toward him. Caige's cocky attitude and smirk quickly turned into a sneer and a clear expression of annoyance. The Shades closed in on them and for the first time Caige noticed the sharp claws they possessed. He stumbled backwards a few feet stunned; he didn't know what to do. "Geez, you're an idiot sometimes Killer. They are shadows, can you cut a shadow?" Lilith yelled from within his soul, connected by their bond.

"Well no, but usually shadows don't try to kill me!" Caige argued back. "Doesn't this mean they can't hurt us either?"

"No… they are made from Dracula's soul himself. Getting hit by these things will attack your soul directly, but they are so spread thin that you wouldn't be able to get a good grasp on Dracula's soul." said Lilith.

"Well then what the hell do we do about these stupid Shades?" Caige began to panic.

Lilith thought for a moment. "Ok… We have to Resonate. It's the only way. It is said that my families "shadow" weaponry produces shadows to hide in once you resonate. Well, hopefully we can reverse the effect and pull in all the shadows around here."

"So you're going to suck up Dracula's soul?"

"No, only the shadow magic that is channeling his soul."

"This is so confusing…."

"Just Resonate with me…"

"This sucks, what if I were to tell my story one day to boost my ego? Starting with us resonating would be kind of anti-climactic!"

"Then don't start here you freaking idiot! If you don't hurry then you won't live to tell any story!"

Caige sighed; he cleared his thoughts and focused on the connection he felt to this piece of steel in his hands. He smiled as he thought about how odd this relationship was; just five years ago he would have called a person insane for having a connection to an inanimate object. Then he thought about how he could strengthen his bond with Lilith, so that maybe he could…

"Focus!" Lilith interrupted his thoughts. "We can't do this with only one competent partner!"

Caige looked up and saw multiple things that peaked his interest. He sneered and shushed Lilith. "Wait one second Lilith. Be patient." He swiftly leapt up and, almost too quickly, appeared behind the shades which had just stepped into an opening in the trees where the moonlight touched their shadowy figures. Caige plunged the dagger where their inner form would be and with a quick flinch cut through each of the Shades ripping at the inner soul.

As the Shades grunted and disappeared Lilith transformed back into her human body and immediately began to yell. "What the hell! How did you know that would work? What if you were wrong? What if those things killed you?" said Lilith. Caige heaved his hands over his shoulder and behind his head and started to walk toward the castle. "Don't strike that 'cool' pose with me! Dammit."

Caige and Lilith approached the doors of Bran Castle. The resilient wooden doors were marked with carvings of disturbing images. The architecture of the door was unlike any they had seen, and though disturbing, it was beautiful in its own right. Eyes of madness sloughed across the door; the Eyes were sideways to an extent and had cat like pupils that seemed to glow red even though the door wasn't colored in any way, just wood. Strange that the Eyes were also all paired in threes; the architect most likely lived the rest of his life in fear after he was forced to sculpt this mind numbing door. Caige pushed the door open, being sure not to set a hand on one of the Eyes that surely saw into his soul. As they walked in they felt the wind pick up and just as they turned to look outside the many shades that were scattered across this battlefield flew through the air like a black cloud rising from the ground and into the castle. Suddenly the doors to the castle slammed shut with them inside.

Killer felt it then… the weight of an entire universe slammed into His mind and dared Him to rip at His own soul. The weird red Eyes appeared on the walls and stared at Him; His vision began to blur as He felt the pure power of madness pulse from within the castle. At least, He was pretty sure this was madness, He had never felt madness before, it was only a myth that Justin and Death had pounded into His head. Then again… here it was, ripping at His skull. _No, this isn't madness, this is normal_. He had always felt the tense pounding in His head, He had always felt the eyes watching Him, and it was now that He was actually normal. He had been to this place before; in fact He was the God. He looked around His sanctum and felt the presence of another. Voices screamed in his head and clenched his stomach together. _The intruder had to die! But who was this intruder? _He thought back and remembered walking in with her. _Lilith! _

He saw her in the corner, turned toward the wall, motionless. _Why is she there?_ He approached her, but as He did she turned slowly toward Him, her movements were puppet like and her head seemed to drop when not supported by an outside force. Killer flinched and scowled as He got a look at her face, she had three Eyes, but the Eyes were shining red and were staring into his soul. _No, this isn't fair, this is His kingdom, and He was the ruler, why did she get the Eyes and not him?_ Killer toke a step back and then had an epiphany, _she toke The Eyes from Him because she knew. She knew that He knew that she had known for awhile now… and she was jealous of that_.

Fear set in as Killer's imaginary intent grew into bold accusations. He was scared of Lilith; He was scared of the walls and the Eyes that grew out of them, but most of all He was scared of the front door; so He ran into the foyer to try to escape everything. Lilith rushed toward Him with the same bloodlust that He had. He ran down the first hallway that He saw and bolted through a door that led to a long hall of doors. He felt her presence behind Him, getting closer. _Why was the God of this world running? Because He was trapped in a building with a Godbreaker…_ He thrust down the hall trying to escape His Godbreaker; through the side doors in the hall burst more Godbreakers. The hall stretched longer and twisted around in circles to where the ceiling was level with the floor; light faded and the shadows ate away at the rest of the room almost like it was leaking from the ceiling. Killer felt the hard embrace of the door at the end of the hall as He crashed through it. He fell to the floor in this new room and twist around just in time to see all of His Godbreakers fill the room and surround him. For a moment there was nothing, all the three eyed demons of madness stood above Him. Suddenly one screeched and grabbed at His arm, the others followed the first and clawed at Him. As He yelled out in pain He could feel blood oozing from His injuries. His voice disappeared, and then He felt the weight of His arm disappear, followed closely by His other limbs. He looked up one final time and saw Lilith's face… her beautiful face staring at him with a smile. _A smile? Lilith didn't smile…_her face molded right before him into its three eyed evil counterpart and before he could let out a scream she ripped into his flesh with searing teeth and the world went black.

Caige felt the weight of the world disappear_… no that was the madness_. The madness had finally lost its grip on him. He opened his eyes only to find that he was in the room he had dreamt he was in. Lilith stood over him, her dark red hair hanging below her waist; however she had a frown on her face, as opposed to the usual blank expression. "What happened Killer?" she said with genuine concern. "You were acting really weird, and then you toke off into the castle. I was surprised you actually knew where you were going."

Caige got up and studied the room. Coffins lined each side of the grand hall, and near the very front was the biggest coffin. The design of this coffin very much resembled the architecture of the front door. Caige shivered trying to shake off the nightmare he had been forced to live through.

"Kil…" Lilith began but was interrupted by Caige.

"I've told you this before. Stop calling me 'killer'." Caige said sternly. "Let's get this over with." He felt loathing fill his stomach and overflow into his chest._ Why had that damned nickname followed him from the DWMA?_ Caige toke one final heave of air and gathered his courage to start toward the front of the room.

Lilith followed his movements with her fiery red eyes. She sighed, "You know, you are really bi-polar sometimes." She ran to catch up to him and then slowed to his pace. "What do you suppose is in there?" she said pointing at the ominous coffin.

Caige thought for a moment, but no answer could be closer then another. _A pathway to Dracula's lair or maybe Dracula himself waiting to challenge any that opened the doors to his resting place._"Whatever it is, it will bring us closer to the end of this charade. Let's just open it; what's the worst that could happen?" Caige realized that was a pretty dumb comment. Worst case, they die; but neither of them wanted to correct the mistake.

They stood next to the wooden framework that depicted the fall of humanity. Those eyes on the coffin seamed even more sinister to Caige now that he had felt their stare within his own mind. Lilith pushed the coffin door back and the effect was instant on them both. The amount of insanity pouring out of the coffin was surreal, it literally toke the form of black fog and rolled out of the coffin and seeped along the floor. Caige's vision began to blur again as the madness pushed him backwards and seized his entire body, he felt notches in his stomach that refused to come undone. The force felt like he had just jumped out of an airplane and the gravity on earth was ten times what it should be.

Inside the coffin sat a soul; the soul of Count Dracula. The soul was plated, like a Kishin egg or a witch's soul. However the color is what gave away a difference; the color of this soul was pure black and in between the plates on the soul spewed red light and more of the black fog that covered most of the room now. They both stared down wondering what to do. The room began to shake as if someone had picked it up separate from the castle and dropped it on accident. Caige turned around and almost knew what to expect. The Shades from earlier had returned, at least thirty of them. Slowly they lifted the coffins in the room and let the bones inside drop to the floor. Then one by one the shades disappeared, each forced into the skeletons. The bones each molded together to create thirty separate skull warriors.

Caige began to run toward the 'zombie' type invaders. "Get rid of that soul Lilith. I don't care how, just find a way." He valiantly leapt into battle and left Lilith there to decide what to do.

Lilith watched in awe as Caige beat down skeleton after skeleton to defend her. She blushed as she thought about how brave and noble he was being for once. It figures that he turned out to not be the jerk she depicted him as, but only when it counted most. Her fantasy didn't last long though; the scattered bones began to wobble on the ground and soon they reformed into their skeletal bodies. The skeletons quickly made their way back to Caige. Lilith's eyes widened as the skeletons began to surround Caige.

"Caige!" yelled Lilith, but it was too late. He was surrounded now and the skeletons were ruthless in their attacks. Lilith didn't know how to respond, he was going to die and for once in her life she couldn't think of a plan. Panicking she picked up the soul, everything in her mind told her to simply destroy it… but once the soul was in her hand she felt different… empowered. She looked over at Caige, the situation was getting worse. The Soul beckoned to her now… she did what came natural after that. She slammed the soul into her mouth and quickly swallowed. She winced, the texture of the soul was no different, but the after effect was excruciating. Her lungs burned like a small fire had been started inside her, and her knees gave way. _Was she going to die?_She felt her body convulse and turn on itself, like she could literally feel her white blood cells attacking her red blood cells.

The bones to the warriors dropped to the ground, lifeless without their shadowy masters. Caige sat up, his face covered in blood from a wound near the top of his head. "Did you take long enough or what? I thought I was a goner for sure… Hey Lilith, are you ok? You don't look too good."

* * *

><p>"Then she fainted, I personally think it was because she couldn't stand the sight of blood, but she had seen blood before. Seeing as how my legs were broken and Lilith was out cold we had to wait around for someone to pick us up. It wasn't long though, apparently Death's army was waiting for the castle to open up. I guess it was sealed with some sort of ward once Lilith and I got inside. Weird though… if Dracula was that interested in protecting his soul then don't you think he would have sealed the castle like that to begin with?" Caige sat back in the chair after that final thought to signify he had nothing more to say on the matter.<p>

Justin eyed him for a bit, obviously not sure whether or not to believe his old friend. "So you're saying… that you were busy fighting minions of the Count while Lilith was left to deal with the soul?

"Well ya…" Caige said. "But the monsters fell to pieces. The soul had to have been destroyed. There is no other way, right?"

Justin pondered this for a moment. Dracula's soul was special, so he honestly had no clue… how could he expect a newly graduated meister to make that judgment call?

"Either way, this investigation isn't over." Justin turned and walked toward the steel door. Gizmos turned and unsealed the door. Justin looked back at him and said, "You will be kept in custody to answer more questions later." He turned back and left the room.

"Wait Justin!" yelled Caige, but he continued to walk and soon the door closed. "I'm hungry… You and those damn earphones."

Caige looked throughout the blank room. A twisted smile formed on the side of his crooked mouth. He felt a tickle in his throat; the tickle grew and Killer couldn't stop it any longer. He burst out laughing at the little three eyed demons crawling in this room. The outlines of these Eyes were multiple colors but the pupil was always shining red. They crawled on the floor, the ceiling, and the walls. They were always there protecting him; but nobody else could ever see them. They knew he wasn't their god any longer because of recent events but still he had been set up with his own personal madness helpers. They even intercepted Justin during the interrogation and caused Caige to lie. Yes he knew where Lilith was, he even knew that she ate that cursed soul; but he would never give away Lilith's location or her secret. He had played it off perfectly, and if he had his way Justin would join him on his path of destruction.

NEXT TIME: _**Chapter 2: Caige and Lilith- In Absence of Reason **_


	2. Chapter 2: In Absense of Reason

_**Chapter 2: Caige and Lilith– In Absence of Reason **_

Silence… the type of eerie silence that vibrates through the air, bounces off the walls, and pierces your eardrum with its powerful _lack _of sound. Caige sat in his wooden chair, very accustom now to the back ache it caused, and stared nervously up at the ceiling. Justin had already entered the room with his own foldable metal chair- that still looked more comfortable than Caige's- and sat backwards in it. He had one hand covering his mouth- as if thinking- so that all that was revealed to Caige were his wavering icy blue eyes.

No questions had been asked yet so the silence was more than a little awkward. Caige averted his eyes from the not so interesting ceiling and stared right into Justin's blue ocular orbs. Justin made no move and didn't acknowledge the change Caige had made. Caige felt a fringe of annoyance leap into his thoughts and again focused on the silence; wishing that he heard something… anything. Justin's music was turned down a few notches but if a loud note struck then it would escape into the room, breaking the horribly loud silence.

_Damn, _Caige thought. _He has to know something. Its cool Caige… maintain your emotions. You have come too far to be beat in a game of wits against the witless. _Caige smiled at his own thoughts, after all Justin was the least witty of all the people he knew.

"Sooooo…" Caige began. "What are you thinking there Justin?" Justin's features changed but were too hard to read. It was almost like he was conflicted within his own thoughts. Caige caught glimpses of sorrow, fear, anger, and humor. _What is up with this guy? Is my presence taking that much out of him?_

Finally Justin snapped out of his inner conflict and lowered his hand from his mouth. "You know I can't discuss that with you at the moment. Your being interrogated you know." Justin said with a clear sense of humor on his face. Caige sighed out at the released tension between them.

Justin reached into a folder that he had been keeping at his side and pulled a few papers from it. He shifted through the papers a bit before getting to the one that had peaked his interest. "I have a few files here that I dug up from your student years at Shibusen" Justin said while flicking the papers in his finger frequently. Caige felt his right eyebrow raise half an inch while a growing sensation rose in his stomach. He did not like where this was going. "Says here that you spent your first two years at the academy with a weapon partner, and the last two without one. Can you tell me why and where that weapon partner is now?" Justin had a crooked smile on the edge of his mouth and an expression that said 'got ya'.

Caige scowled at Justin. This was not the subject he wanted to be on; he wanted to forget everything about the DWMA and his younger years as a meister. Caige grabbed at his hair nervously and stared at his old friend with a burning desire to punch him in the face. He felt this burning desire climb up his throat and physically felt its taste on his tongue; the bitter taste left him gagging for air.

"Answer the question Caige" Justin pushed, tired of waiting. "And how exactly does a lone meister graduate the academy without a weapon partner?"

"The same way you did without a meister Justin." Caige blurted out. "They had nothing left to teach me. As long as you can get the required assignments done it doesn't matter if you have a weapon or not. I got the souls and returned them to Lord Death. End of story." Caige felt the anger in his words and knew Justin wouldn't let them go.

Justin stood up out of seat and grabbed his chair; he whipped the chair around so that it faced Caige and set it down. He plopped down on the chair and leaned forward as if listening intently. "So tell me Caige. What happened to your weapon? I already know from the report, but I want to hear what you have to say."

"What does the report say?" Caige insisted.

Justin thought it out for a moment, then after deciding it wouldn't hurt if Cage knew he looked down at the report and read aloud. "Second year students Caige and Scarlet accepted a low rank escort mission. The mission, however, was an _alleged _hoax; put together by three witches that had the intention of luring young students to their lair. The meister Caige escaped unharmed; however his weapon Scarlet was killed."

Caige silently resented each and every word that Justin spoke. Pain crept its way into every fiber of his being and he forcefully blinked a few tears away.

"What do you think about that Caige? The report says 'alleged', that means they are going off of _your _word. So they don't really know, now do they?" Justin pried.

"The report is true." Caige said quietly.

"You did not kill that girl?"

"No"

"What about the three witches, do you know where they are now?"

"Dead."

Justin looked through the papers he had once again. He was clearly taken aback by Caige's last statement. He coughed awkwardly when his search turned up fruitless.

"Are we done with this topic?" Caige said quietly.

"Yah… well I don't really have any more leads. Maybe you should continue your little story. You and Lilith were together for a while before her disappearance. Tell me what happened after the attack on Bran Castle."

Caige sighed, relieved that he didn't have to relive his past at the academy a moment longer. "Ok" he said bluntly. "I woke up the next morning with no memory of getting back to Scholomance. I had lost a lot of blood and probably passed out somewhere along the way. I was in the hospital ward and oddly enough I felt fine.

* * *

><p>Caige sat up confused as to why he felt absolutely no pain from his broken legs or the deep gashes on his head. He lifted his hand and carefully prodded the top of his head for a sign of damage. Nothing… He moved his legs about and bent his knees. They were fine. He had felt what it was like to break a bone; he had busted his femur before when he underestimated a jump. He knew that his legs <em>were <em>broken.

He threw off the hospital beds covers and twisted around to prepare to get off the bed and on to the ground. He mentally prepared for the pain he might experience if his legs were still broken. He slowly slid himself carefully with his hands holding the side of the bed firmly for support. His left foot touched the ground-cold and hard- and he tested some weight. No pain. He repeated the process with his right foot. Both his legs were fine.

He jumped up off the bed and excitedly onto the floor. _Wow, _he thought. _Modern medicine is amazing!_ He gazed around at the room and down at himself. He realized for the first time that he was missing his 'Scholomance official battle unit' shirt that he had worn to the invasion. He felt the chill of the Romanian weather hit his bare skin. He shivered and looked frantically around for his shirt, which he found hanging on the bed post.

As he was busy slipping on his shirt the doctor of the ward pranced in. She held herself tall and walked with meaning, though her physical appearance was that of a ninety-seven year old. She had long gray hair and beady eyes that were never quite open all the way. She wore the standard doctor's uniform with a stethoscope around her neck. Her name was Meldia but everyone at Scholomance simply called her Vechi, which was Romanian for 'old'. She was very old in fact, it is said that she was around when the Scholomance academy was first founded, making her well over a hundred years old.

"Ah Caige, you're up." She said in a raspy voice. "So strange how a young man can sleep the day away when he hasn't even been hurt."

Caige looked outside the nearest window and saw that the sun wasn't quite in the sky. It was creeping on the edge of the horizon and if Caige perceived things correctly it was slowly drifting upwards.

"Doctor Vechi, maybe you need some glasses, its still morning." Caige said sheepishly, a little embarrassed for the poor old doctor.

"My eyes are just fine sunny. Why, when I was your age I was up at three o'clock every morning working on my soul exercises and planning out my day! Now look at me!" The doctor flexed her arms absurdly as if to show off her huge muscles.

"Seriously?" Caige muttered looking away from the doctor. "Anyways, what did you mean I hadn't been hurt? I was pretty sure my legs were broken and my head was busted open. So… you didn't fix me up?"

The doctor made a wheezing sort of laugh and began to cough. She toke a huge breath and maintained her breathing for a while before talking again. "Fix you? You were just fine. Your shirt was stained with blood, but I don't think that came from you sunny. It probably came from the many asses you kicked out there! I heard you went into Bran castle by yourself and handled everything from there! You're a hero my boy! But nothing else was expected of-"

Caige felt a sense of pride swell in his chest as he thought about how he was the talk of the town. It wasn't really true though… It wasn't as tricky as everyone might have thought. It was shear dumb luck that led him and Lilith to get as far as they did.

_Luck… or was it destined? Maybe I had been chosen to get as far as I did. But why? And why did my injuries heal so quickly? _Caige wondered. _Things aren't right here._ Caige noticed that the whole time he had been thinking the doctor was still talking.

"-and had never heard of such a heroic thing in all of my days. I guess they call you 'Killer' for a reason eh?" doctor Vechi finally ended her little rant. She examined Caige with her beady eyes. Caige noticed that her eyes didn't necessarily have a definable color to them. Vechi whipped around and pointed toward the door in front of her now. "Your good to go my boy. Have a glorious day."

Caige walked toward the door and as he passed the senile doctor he looked back and smiled kindly at her as he held up his hand and waved goodbye.

The door shut with a light tap and the room was quite. The doctor walked to the bed Caige had occupied five minutes earlier and sat down with a heave of relief. She tucked her head down and held her face in her hands. After gathering the tense stress and throwing it out of her mind she finally looked toward the door and whispered to herself. "There is something seriously wrong with that boy…"

Caige walked through the lifeless streets of Scholomance, every now and then he saw a random citizen or a student from the academy, but overall it was just too early for any real activity in the city. The few that he did meet on the streets, however, greeted him with either praise or a salute of respect. He really was considered the hero in all this mess.

He walked through the main street and off to the side of the center fort where his and Lilith's apartment was. As he arrived at the front door he fumbled through the pockets to his armored leather pants and pulled at his apartment keys. He laughed silently at the funny depiction of a soul that was pictured on one of his key chains as he thrust the keys in the door and unlocked his apartment.

He walked in and it was no surprise that there was no noise in the apartment. Lilith was most likely asleep and even if she wasn't she usually kept to herself; and Caige really didn't mind that too much. They hadn't bonded at all and had never even really tried to resonate their souls. After all, she was his first partner since Scarlet and he didn't feel like getting too close to anyone else.

Caige walked into the living room and plopped down on the sofa there. He had no problem with the dark, or the lack of sound, or even the fact that he had nothing to do. He was content with laying there. He stared over at the kitchen to his left. Everything was right where he left it when they went off to join the impending attack on Bran castle.

Caige felt a deep sense of accomplishment bury itself all the way into his soul… but at the same time, what was his purpose now? This academy had been founded with the sole purpose of protecting the world from the looming threat of Count Dracula. Now he and his soul were disposed of and the academy was suddenly useless. Another thought crossed his mind: Scholomance was more than a hundred years old, so why had it just now been prompted to attack Bran Castle?

Caige stayed deep in his thoughts for about an hour before deciding that if he cooked breakfast his mind would be put to ease. Caige cracked a few eggs into a pan and turned the stove on. He cut slices of ham and sprinkled in cheese to bring together one huge omelet. He flipped his huge masterpiece onto a plate and cut it in half; dumping the other half onto a different plate. He kissed his fingers and made the 'mauh' noise as if to imitate a chef.

He quietly tip toed over to Lilith's door and knocked gently on the hollow wood. "Hey sleepy head, I made some breakfast. Yummm omelet." He said soothingly into the door. There was no response on the other side. He shrugged off the silence and sat down alone at the table. He stared at Lilith's plate in front of him while he ate his own food quietly. The omelet was the worst he'd ever eaten… tasted like cardboard.

He got out of his seat and dumped the rest of omelet in the trash and sat back down on the sofa. He felt an itch in his throat that built itself up. The itch to admit something… He really wanted to see Lilith, for whatever reason it was he could not wait. It was only like eight in the morning. How could he expect her to be up after a long night like that? So he waited on the sofa patiently staring at her door. Her teasing and tantalizing door; he could feel the magnetic force of the door pulling him in and topping his interest meter.

He couldn't take his mind off her presence; it was like the rest of the world simply faded away. The walls melted as the sun came up and reformed as the sun began its descent. The hours molded together but still the door remained closed. No noise from within. Though Caige could easily perceive the soul within and knew without a doubt it was Lilith.

Caige looked over at the clock which boldly stated that the time was seven p.m. in bright red lights. His eye began to nervously twitch as he thought about just how long Lilith would stay in her room.

So he got up and walked slowly towards her door. He rasped on the door a few times with his knuckle. No response. He cleared his throat nervously and said, "I hope you're decent." He turned the knob slowly and opened the door. There on her bed was Lilith- wide awake with a blank expression and staring off into space- just laying there. Her gleaming red eyes slowly made their way to Caige's entrance and she focused directly on his own eyes.

"ahhhh…" She said dully. "Just the man I wanted to see… Come over here and lay with me."

Caige was shocked by the offer, but was more focused on her weird attitude and the fact that the feeling in his gut told him to turn around and walk away. Still he walked forward and sat on the side of Lilith's bed.

"That is not lying down…" Lilith said in a mellow voice. Caige awkwardly laid himself down on the bed and found him staring into Lilith's warm red eyes. Her pupil was going crazy, growing rather large and then rotating back to normal size like the lens to a camera.

"I know how you feel Caige." Lilith began hauntingly. "I know all too well. You are infatuated with me. You have fallen 'head over heels' in love, haven't you?"

Caige swallowed hard… This wasn't Lilith talking. It couldn't be, she wasn't so bold in her accusations and has no reason to believe he was in love with her. But as soon as she said it Caige found it to be more and more true. No, he can't just develop these feelings in an instant.

"The question is." Lilith continued. "How in love are you? You have to prove it to me in order to win my love in return. How far are you willing to go?"

_It's a trick. I can't succumb to this. She is not Lilith. _Caige's thoughts barreled against his head in an attempt to free him. He was too late though… He was sucked into her trap and he couldn't escape. _The Fear of Solitude; the second biggest fear known to mankind._

_**The Fear of Failure**_

_**The Fear of Solitude**_

_**The Fear of Death**_

_**The Fear of Pain**_

_**The Fear of the Unknown **_

The five great fears that plagued mankind sense the birth of madness. Caige knew them by heart but had no clue when he even learned them. This was his chance, he could wipe all his fears away… but was it worth it?

_Lilith, get a hold of yourself. Don't you realize that you aren't in control? _Is what Caige wanted to say, but the words that he heard come out of his mouth sounded more like. "I would do anything for you Lilith."

His heart sank as he realized what he had just committed to. Lilith's expression remained unchanged even as she got out of the bed and slid her way over to the door. She turned her head half heartedly toward Caige and said, "Well come on… prove it."

Caige struggled with all his might to stop his body from moving, but before he knew it Lilith and he were moving down the streets of Scholomance toward the main building where the academy was.

The academy was in the oldest building in the city… but how old that was isn't exactly known. Scholomance had been around since the creation of evil and the rise of madness; said to be built and ruled by the devil himself. Dracula attended the evil school back in the 1800's, but the dark magic rooted way back before then.

The school was reformed now though, with Lord Death in charge of the academy the practice of dark arts had been thrown out and the school had turned over a new leaf. The dark arts are probably lost to history, their secrets known to nobody else. It was a good thing too; it was one thing to fight madness… but a totally different thing to fight pure evil.

As he followed Lilith into the academy he began to notice a slight difference in Lilith's soul wavelength. Like before, it had a magnetic feel to it. Caige wasn't very close to Lilith so he doubted his soul perception would work very well, but he tried anyway. He pushed his soul outwards to try to touch Lilith's and was met with surprise when Lilith accepted him right away.

Caige was fully aware of Lilith's soul now; it was much bigger than Caige's and well defined… powerful. However, there was something wrong… A black speck was defacing her otherwise perfect soul. The black speck radiated almost the same as the rest of her soul… He wasn't seeing this wrong. No, this speck was a part of her soul.

The halls of the school were dark as Lilith and he pierced the silence of the building. They were the only ones walking in the hall because it was after hours and no classes were in session.

Lilith stopped at one of the classroom doors abruptly and peaked in- a wicked smirk appearing on her face- then motioned for Caige to do the same. Inside sat one of the professors that taught at the academy; he was working at his desk finishing his grading on assignments.

Lilith hastily opened the door and led Caige into the classroom. The professor looked towards them and immediately jumped up out of his seat to acknowledge their presence. He bowed his head in admiration as Caige approached.

"And to what do I owe this honor mister Carmichael?", said the professor. "It's not that I don't enjoy your presence, it just seems rather odd that you would come here yourself; especially after the events last night." The professor seemed rather nervous about Caige's appearance.

Caige raised both his hands slowly to try calming the professor; a hint that the professor toke and calmly stood there while he waited for Caige to explain. Caige looked over at Lilith who had been staring at him intently. What did she want from him?

Lilith averted her eyes from him for a split second. In that second she glared at the professor with such a hatful bloodthirsty stare that Caige suddenly understood. It made no sense though… why? It no longer mattered because Lilith had made a move already. She shifted herself into her Shadow Kris and Caige no longer had any other choices.

He instinctively caught the dagger and immediately segued his moves into a lunge. The professor had no time to respond and toke an attack directly to the chest. After a moment of silence a flash of light burst from the professor's chest and a bright blue soul made its way into the air. The professor coughed a single time before collapsing onto the floor. Scarlet blood oozed its way from his corpse.

Caige couldn't describe his thoughts… but they were so loud that the rest of the world faded out of existence. He felt a crooked smile flash across his mouth. This was it… his calling. He felt so powerful; so feared. He didn't notice Lilith transform back and eat the free soul. He just stood there.

* * *

><p>Justin sat there with a blank expression on his face… Caige had told him everything. Caige knew by now it was safe though. Justin made no move; no sound. Caige had made sure that his little madness demons had fully intercepted Justin's thoughts.<p>

Justin however would be a tough one to crack. He was a clergyman with a strong faith in Lord Death… but what if that faith was turned against him? What if the very thing that made him resistant to insanity was his downfall? Caige could get him to focus his faith on the Kishin.

Justin's wavelength had changed drastically. He leaned backwards in his chair and spoke softly. "Were you responsible for all the other deaths and disappearances as well?"

"Yes" Caige responded wickedly. "In two years we totaled about twenty-seven."

Justin's eyes moved from one side of the room to the other nervously; his eyes moving back and forth, never still for a minute. He got up out of his chair in a rush knocking the metal chair onto the floor with a loud crash that echoed throughout the room. The crash seemed to bring Justin to his senses. He examined the room silently one last time and then turned to Caige. Justin's mind seemed to finally be clear… he had given up.

"As you know, I will be leaving soon.", said Justin. "Lord Death has called the Deathscythes to Death city. The Kishin Asura has been awakened and the DWMA needs to be unified during this time. I'm leaving you in charge of Scholomance Caige."

Justin showed no emotion, his eyes stared off into space. This was it; Caige had won. He curled his lips into a sinister smile. He had plans… for Scholomance and then the world.

_**Next Time: Chapter 3: Caige and Lilith- A Hostile Takeover **_


	3. Chapter 3: A Hostile Takeover

_**Chapter 3: Caige and Lilith- A Hostile Takeover **_

A harsh wind blew in from the north sending a chill down Caige's spine. Darkness had fallen over Scholomance and Caige was walking down the street in the dead of night. He wore black slacks, a red and black stripped shirt, and a leather jacket that depicted a Kishin eye on each sleeve. He was very open with his affiliation now… but it didn't matter because everyone that saw him was immediately overwhelmed with insanity.

He was slowly turning the entire town mad. So in a way… darkness falling over Scholomance was more than a metaphor; it was the harsh reality. Though peoples' regular everyday lives would not change; they would be free from fear and would become slightly more powerful when unified. In a way, Caige was doing them a favor by converting them into madness- just like he helped Justin. But that was not his plan… no, he was going for something bigger then helping the common folk.

Justin had been gone for almost two days. However, Caige knew he didn't go straight to Shibusen; he had made a detour. It was strange how the insane were always aware of each other. He knew where Justin was, he knew where individual evil humans were, but most importantly he knew where the Kishin was.

Caige had gained a type of soul perception, though not nearly as good as the fluent meisters' that were naturally gifted with the ability. With this demon wavelength he was able to fully understand Lilith's soul and his own.

Lilith's soul had grown three Kishin eyes on it and had four arm-like extensions that were able to tempt others into madness… like she had done for Caige.

Caige's soul was much of the same, he had the arm-like attachments but no Kishin eyes; instead he noticed he was able to conceal his soul and demon wavelength and make it take the shape of whatever he wanted. This power suited Caige, he was always the type of fighter to rely on shadows… this ability gave him the power to go 'undercover' no matter how far into insanity he dwelled.

As Caige walked down the street he came across a single man that stood slumped against a building on the side of the road. He looked cautiously at Caige; he seemed relieved that it happened to be the hero of the Bran invasion that he met on the street. As Caige got closer to the man the relief faded away. The man had seen the Kishin symbol on Caige's jacket.

Before the man could run away or scream, Caige quickly lashed out with his soul's arms and grabbed onto the man. The man staggered a bit, unsure of why his body wouldn't move. Caige dug his arm-like extension into the man's skin and wrapped them around his soul. Caige pulsed madness through his Soul Arm and into the man's very being. Caige released him and let him fall to the ground.

It was strange how quickly Caige had learned to use his powers. The man's crumpled heap rose from the ground and stood up. He looked wryly at Caige for a moment then bowed his head in honor. For those that had no means to fight back the process of converting to madness was simple.

**Submission **

**Compromise**

**Loyalty**

All Caige had to do was strangle the soul helpless, let the soul know that if it were to serve him it would get a second chance, then free the soul. Without realizing what had happened, the shell of a person would let the soul dictate what moves would be made. The soul then would lead the shell to madness by pure instinct of the trauma.

Madness was a simple thing, why had the whole world not relied on it before? But why had he? Lilith had saved his soul from the repetition of daily life. However she hadn't been too concerned for him since the beginning. Did she love him? No… that was a hoax for that particular moment.

Anger swelled inside Caige like a wildfire across a dry prairie. She used him… she tricked him… she didn't truly care for his own peace. Why did it matter now though… he was insane and quite enjoyed it.

_Besides, Lilith herself had left Scholomance a while back. She decided to live in Bran Castle; said that it had called out to her and she couldn't ignore it anymore. _Caige chuckled to himself. _I'm insane but not __**that**__ insane._

Caige made his way to the center of town where a large crowd had gathered around a wooden platform with stairs leading up to the top. Caige pushed through the crowd- each person stood still and reacted little to interruption- and climbed the steps to eventually stand on the makeshift stage. The crowd was silent and hadn't been talking to begin with. Caige looked out at the fifty or so people; he raised his hands and- even though no words were spoken- the crowd understood.

The crowd was full of the people he had 'infected' with madness in secrecy over the past two days. Each of the souls had grown a- smaller in comparison- Soul Arm as well. The crowd was now on the same wavelength as him and could see his true intentions, just as he could see theirs. Nothing was hidden, there was no fear.

Caige cleared his throat and spoke to the crowd as their leader.

"Interchanging mind control; Come let the revolution take its toll. If we could flick a switch and open your third eye, you'd see that we should never be afraid to die. So rise up and take the power back; it's time the fat cat had a heart attack. You know that their times coming to an end; we have to unify and watch our flag ascend. They will not force us. They will stop degrading us. They will not control us. We will be victorious!"

As Caige chanted the last part to his speech the lifeless crowd became animated. Howling and jumping, the crowd cheered and chanted into the night. The plan was set.

The morning warmed the country side as the sun swept across the land diminishing the cold air and burning away the shadows; but it brought along with it horror and a clear cloud of killing intent. Caige stood at the top of the stairs leading to the center fort and watched as his minions descended on the town. He wore his usual outfit, but added a plaid red and black Flat Cap to the wardrobe; he was British after all.

As he looked out at the impending conversion of the entire town he felt a rather large soul behind him. He recognized it immediately- however it had grown a lot stronger since they last met. Lilith walked up and stood beside him and looked through the streets of the town.

Caige did not acknowledge her presence for a while; but instead continued to stare at the descending madness. The first of his minions had made contact with the people of the town. The events afterwards happened so fast it was almost as if life had been in slow-mo until that point. The citizens screamed and the town broke out in peril, some of his more potent minions lit torches and threw them in buildings-causing fire to sweep across the town, then the academy alarm went off and all the young meisters erupted from the school- ready to fight. The student meisters ran past Caige and Lilith, just trying to find the danger.

As if in response to the sudden chaos Lilith turned to Caige and glared at him with those dangerously bright red eyes. It was at this time that Caige noticed her eyes had a strange black line that swirled around her pupil like it was being pulled in by a black hole. That must have formed at some point within the past month or two.

"You are quite determined. That is surprising…" Lilith said slowly. "Insanity usually seems to suck any enthusiasm people have right out; usually replacing it with reckless behavior. I'm mostly surprised that you aren't attacking the town by yourself."

Caige scowled as he kept watch over the lively town. "So I take it that's why you kept your distance from me?" Caige said nonchalantly. The students made their way to his madness induced minions and stopped dead in their tracks. Soon the students were dancing to Caige's insanity rhythm; however, the students with a particularly strong soul did not surrender to madness. Unfortunately his minions detected this and soon the uncooperative students were cut down; and their souls were devoured.

Lilith grunted in amusement and addressed Caige again. "Yes, that is why I went my own way. However, I've been busier then you think. I have finished collecting my souls. Have you seen a madness induced Deathscythe?"

"Not yet, but I can guarantee you that you won't be the first." Caige smirked at his accomplishment with Justin.

Lilith looked at him with a hint of confusion. "What did you do Caige?"

"I might have had an influence on Justin. Either way, he went to the Kishin and another third party. That _must_ mean that he has fallen into madness."

Lilith stood quietly beside him for a moment; her swirling red eyes dwelling deep into her own separate universe. She seemed a little disappointed at the notion of coming in second. No doubt she was more than a little excited to serve the Kishin.

"Well", said Lilith. "Will you help me with the last part? I need one witch's soul."

"Hm", Caige thought for a moment. It wouldn't hurt to team up for a bit longer; just like she had used him, he would use her. "Sure, but I have a better idea. I've killed three witches in the past. I might be able to convince Lord Death to let me claim one of them again."

Lilith's attitude lit up a shade and she nodded in agreement. Caige averted his eyes back toward the town; the struggle was over, all the students had either been assimilated or killed. Caige was certain now that there would be no more problems, and as his army drifted out of his view he turned around and briskly walked into the fort that now belonged to him.

Caige scowled as he felt Lilith's presence follow him. _What? Now that I'm interesting she is going to be a loyal partner?_ A fringe of annoyance crept into his chest but he did not show it. It was befitting for a leader to stay calm.

He stomped up a flight of stairs and turned a corner to the part of the building that faced the streets. There he opened the door that used to belong to Justin's office and trotted in. The room was wide open and had plenty of windows surrounding the entire parameter and even a neat mirror beside a finely crafted desk; however, there was a pileup of paperwork- stacks all over the desk and beside it on the ground- that Justin had ignored. There were chairs along the side of the room- five of which were occupied.

Caige briskly entered the room and opened one of the windows; he then made his way to the desk and grabbed a pile of the paperwork and dumped it out the window. He made a couple of trips to dispose of the paperwork while his guests watched him and waited patiently for him to finish.

He dumped the last of the papers- closing the window- and toke a seat behind the desk; Lilith stood behind him and stared at the guests. Caige analyzed them for a minute before proceeding. To the very left there was an American boy with brown hair and lime green eyes; he was slender and didn't look very strong. Sitting next to him was a girl with odd white hair and dark eyes; Caige couldn't tell where she was from because her skin was tan. Next to her sat a Russian man with a big bulky build; he wore a furry Ushanka hat and a red trench coat. The man next to the Russian seemed terrified of the entire situation so Caige assumed what his job was; and at the very and sat an old man.

"Welcome friends", He said. "So glad you could make it. I have prepared you in advance for this day, so as you know you will become the council of leaders that will serve underneath me." He could feel Lilith's surprise radiating behind him; she did not expect him to be so prepared. "Two of you- along with your weapon partners- will be a part of my personal team."

"Yessir", said the man to the far left. "Demon Claw meister Roy Smith at your service. My partner's name is Tsume."

"Oi", the girl next to Roy spoke. "Dark-arm Mace meister 'Jade' here to serve. My weapon's name is Clayton."

Caige nodded in return at them- not interested in fully examining his team yet.

"One of you will train soldiers", Caige continued.

"Xapak is my name. Meeting you is my own pleasure comrade", said the Russian man that sat next to Jade.

"And one of you will keep up with the boring logistics crap." Caige said, motioning for the fourth person to shut up. He was hardly interested in the name of a pencil pusher. "However, there are five of you."

Caige knew which person did not belong-even from the beginning; it was the strange old man. He was hunched over in the chair at the very right; he wore a suit of pure black and a top hat. His hair was gray along with his bushy mustache, but the most bizarre thing about him was that the man had large canine teeth that stuck out of his mouth even when it was closed.

"Who are you", Caige said lifting his finger to point at the strange old man.

The man stood and removed his top hat- as if to introduce himself. Caige suddenly noticed something was wrong with his head… something was sticking out, _antennas?_

"Terrible sorry to interrupt your little… eh, club meeting", the man said mockingly. "My name is Tick and I've come to inquire about the castle that you claimed not too long ago."

"Bran Castle; what about it old man?" Caige studied the man for a moment- focusing on his soul perception ability. What he saw wasn't too shocking; Tick's soul was fairly large but not big enough to be considered alarming. Like his name suggested it had eight protruding legs, a pincer like jaw and antennas… roughly looking like a tick.

"You will hand over the property to me, as it is rightfully mine. You have had the castle for far too long. I had hoped you would abandon it but it seems that one"- he pointed to Lilith accusingly- "has taken the liberty to call it her home."

Lilith did not say nor do anything- though it was obvious what she felt about Tick now. Caige sighed, he knew Lilith wasn't going to let him give the castle to some cranky old man; that would be too easy for her- and it always had to be the hard way.

"Ok old man… why do you feel the castle belongs to you?"

"The original owner was related to me."

"Dracula?"

"Yes…"

"You're saying that you are like the grandson of Dracula?"

The man snickered for a moment; finding Caige's knowledge amusing. "No", he said. "Dracula is my younger brother."

Caige laughed at this for a while until realizing that the expression Tick radiated was serious. Fear raced into his heart for a moment until he remembered the soul of the man was not too overwhelming. Caige looked to Lilith for some sort of advice; she stared at him curiously before shrugging her shoulders. She held her hand up to her throat and slid her thumb across the bottom of her neck… _kill him? _

"Look old man… we have business with that castle. You're lucky I'm in a good mood, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Caige focused his power and extended his soul far past the power of the old man's. Tick, however, did not budge.

"Was that a threat?" Tick said with a tinge of annoyance. His eyes narrowed and a vein was clearly throbbing on his forehead. "I do not scare easily children."

Tick's soul began to waver for a bit; then suddenly swelled to fill the entire room. Caige squinted his eyes; the soul's pure power radiated throughout his mind. Gravity doubled and the air became hard to breathe. Spiritually, Caige was suffocating as the soul drained his will. He had never seen a soul so powerful; not even Justin's soul was this strong.

Just as suddenly the surge of power had come, it had disappeared. Tick stood in the center of the room- ground scorched underneath his feat. He had a sinister smile plastered on his face; he walked toward the door.

"The castle is mine now children. I expect you to stay the hell away from it." Tick said right before he slammed the door.

Everyone in the room was in dismay; even Lilith was now bent over looking like she was going to puke. Caige felt the ringing in his ears go away and his vision was about to realign itself. _Damn, _Caige thought. _What a monster. How are we going to deal with that?_

Caige got out of his seat and stumbled toward the door; the others toke no notice- they were still trying to come to their senses. Caige staggered down the hall and fell down the stairs leading to the front entrance. Tick was nowhere to be seen.

No longer feeling the need to return to his office to discuss business Caige simply made his way out the front door. The revolution was over; he could feel the wave of killing intent cease and the town began to unify itself in madness.

Now was as good a time as any. With a sort of "hive-mind" technique Caige called his army to him. As he waited for the madness induced town to gather around the fort he thought a moment about Tick.

Helplessness lingered in his thoughts… Tick was far from the strongest person out there. What about Lord Death, Mabaa, and the Kishin? Tick was only a side step… yet if the strongest thing he could make was a Deathscythe then he had no hope in beating Tick. _That was just bloody embarrassing._

Just as his army was about to completely gather itself Caige felt the presence of his team behind him. He paid no attention to them; instead noticing that the air was dense with insanity. It became almost intolerable for even him. Caige smiled and thought that this might just work…

The air vibrated as all the insanity wavelengths clashed together and formed up. Eventually this gathering area could be physically seen; red lightning shot to different areas from this spot. A vortex appeared from the dense madness and began to take shape. Two legs with particularly sharp edges, an odd muscular body that was very disproportionate in areas, lengthy arms with a built in razor near the hand, but most odd about this formation were the black spikes jotting out of its shoulders and that its face was a mask. The mask depicted the two emotions of the old theatre; happiness and sadness.

The entity of madness seemed a little confused about the situation; a confusion that ran deeper than how… but also why. It finally excepted that it existed and that it might as well do it's job.

"Ace! Good job mate, that clown is a beaut!" Jade yelled out from behind Caige. _Great, _Caige thought. _She is a noisy one… but I like her Australian accent. _

Lilith walked up beside him staring at the clown in disbelief. "What have you done Caige?" Panic was clear with every word she spoke. "It is not a slave's job to create a clown."

"This is a naturally formed clown… I simply helped nature run its course by condensing the madness in the area." Caige replied calmly. He still couldn't believe it actually worked though. Clowns were things of myth; he had never actually seen one, yet here it was.

The clown smiled insanely with the one half of his face that was able to do so. It stretched its freakish limbs as it got used to being able to move. The insanity emitting from this clown was more than the entire town combined. It's wavelength matched the Kishin's exactly, it seemed like it was merely an extension of Asura's soul.

"I like this kid", the clown said in a multi-toned voice that gave Caige goose bumps. "He sets his own rules. Such is the nature of _true _insanity."

Caige hadn't thought this far ahead… _now that the clown was born what would he do? What was the clowns' purpose? Would it kill them?_

"Well", the clown said. "Seeing as how you indirectly caused my birth I owe you no loyalty; however as I mentioned, I like you. So I will keep in touch." As the clown finished his sentence his legs melted through the ground. The clown phased into the ground like it was water and with a heart stopping laugh he was gone.

Caige smiled faintly, he would take that as an alliance declaration. He let his grip on the town go, and after a little looking around for the clown the citizens slowly made their way home. He around to face the three people behind him; Lilith had an angry look on her face, Jade had a beaming smile on her face, and Roy was still staring at the floor where the clown had disappeared.

"Yo", Caige broke the silence. "Roy and Jade; you guys wanna go to Death City with me?"

"I'm game!" Roy said more excited with the heightened mood. "Its been awhile since I've been there."

"Death City with a Pommy and a Seppo; ripper, I'll start packing when I get home." Jade said obnoxiously.

Caige shook his head and stepped past his team motioning for them to follow. He slapped his palm onto his face and left it there as he walked. _A Pommy _Caige thought. _This girl is pretty rude. It's one thing for them to say it in their country; but you don't call a brit a Pommy while you're in Europe. _

As the two followed him into the building he heard them making conversation.

"What the hell does that mean? What do Pommy and Seppo mean?" Said Roy, clearly confused by Jade's lingo.

"Well your American right? That means you're a Seppo mate." Jade declared.

"Oh, so does that mean you refer to the British as Pommies?"

"Oi"

"Well you do realize that Death City is in America right?"

"Holy dooley! Look at the time, got to go light a durry!" Jade exclaimed and stopped walking with them suddenly.

Caige felt happy for a moment that she left, even though he liked her style.

"Now wait a sec", Roy said. "What is a durry?" He was not liking the different terms and lingo from Australia.

"She is going to smoke a fag", Caige said smiling subtly knowing this wouldn't help the American.

Roy had a very serious look on his face now though; it sort of confused Caige. "What did you say? That is very disrespectful my friend." He seemed sincerely upset.

"Wow wow, calm it bloke. In America things might be different but that is the Brit word for cigarette." Caige thought about how the different sayings never affected him at Shibusen; maybe because it was when he was younger and things couldn't easily be taken the wrong way.

"Oh…", said Roy. "Eh, sorry about that bud." The American stayed quiet for awhile- embarrassed about his outburst.

The two reached his office and waited a little while for Jade to catch up to them. The Australian fumbled into the room after awhile and motioned for Caige to proceed with business.

Caige turned to the mirror and scribbled down the number to Lord Death; _42-42-564 whenever you want to knock on Death's door. _Caige thought in his head smiling at his past memories. The mirror became animated, waves swept across the mirror like it was an ocean. The mirror made three ringing noises before it went blank.

"Hello, Lord Death are you there?" Caige said monotonously wondering why that particular phrase was a requirement.

The mirror went white as the animated Lord Death stepped back from his obviously close proximity to the mirror. His steps backwards seemed more like bounces; as he stopped he raised an enormous hand to the side of his mask and stuck out two fingers in the 'V' shape tilted sideways so that a finger was near the top and bottom of the eyeholes on his mask.

"Hello hello! Hi, how's it goin? Wazzup?" The goofy looking reaper said repetitively bouncing up and down.

"Kris meister Caige reporting from Scholomance", Caige said nervously; his appearance, his attitude, and everything he said would be judged by the Shinigami. If he so much as blinked the wrong way Lord Death could pick up hints of madness.

"Ah yes, howzit goin Caige? Good ta see ya. There was quite a bit going on over there this morning. Is everything all right?" Lord Death said sounding concerned.

"Ya, everything is fine now. We had a couple madness outbreaks, it appears a meister dwelled into insanity and toke a few with him. There were a couple casualties but nothing too serious." Caige acted embarrassed about the situation; he rested his hand on the back of his neck and looked at the floor. While he had his arm up he noticed he was still wearing his leather jacket with the Kishin eyes depicted on the sleeves.

"Ahh… that's a shame; don't get too discouraged though Caige, I'm sure you're a mighty fine leader", the reaper did not appear to notice.

_I really have to be more careful, _Caige thought. He made sure not to face outwards and kept his arms fairly elevated to hide the symbol.

Caige tried his hardest to act flattered by Lord Death's words. "Thank you Lord Death; by the way, you remember me killing those witches when I was in the academy?"

"Ya?"

"Do you think it will be possible to collect one of them? My weapon partner is so close to becoming a Deathscythe and I figured they still belonged to me."

"Hmm… I don't see why not. How do you wanna get em?"

"Me and my meister friends here are gonna make a trip to the DWMA!" Caige said pointing behind him where Jade and Roy stood.

The Shinigami waved to each in turn with those abnormally large hands. Death didn't show emotion to this last statement because of the mask, but it became apparent that he was surprised. _I knew it, he does suspect me,_ Caige thought.

"Ya", Lord Death finally said. "That sounds like a good idea. I look forward to seeing you guys."

"Thank you my Lord", Caige said. "I will see you then!"

"BYE BYE!"

The mirror fuzzed out for a moment before returning to normal. The room was quiet now, lacking the sound of the over enthusiastic reaper. Caige laughed hard for a moment, not an insane laugh… no it was more like actual joyful laugh. Roy and Jade were soon laughing as well.

"Wow", Caige was able to blurt out. "That was a rush. I thought for sure I was a goner when I saw this dumb jacket."

"You're a dag mate", Jade said choked up with laughter. "Lord Death has to have a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock!"

For the first time in four years Caige was actually happy… it wasn't the trick he pulled either. He might actually like these two teammates of his; it was almost like they were his friends… He never really had any friends before.

_**Next Time: Chapter 4: Caige, Jade, and Roy- The DCity Homecoming **_

**A/N: Ok, this one was slightly longer than the others- though I could have gone more in-depth. Anyway, Caige's "speech" in this chapter is based off lyrics from the song "**_**Uprising"**_** by **_**Muse. **_**I do not own the song by the way. **


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